a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

Although Peter Lal began his preaching in the Methodist Church (now CNI
church), he soon started to work independently along Pentecostal lines. He came
to Rajasthan at the invitation of Miss Pindi Das, who was the principal of a
mission school for girls in Ajmer. She was a lady of prayer from Punjab and a
member of the Methodist Church. In an interview, Lal’s wife Mary Athena Lal
said that even though she was a member of the Methodist Church, she came to a
personal experience of Christian conversion only after hearing the first sermon by
Lal in the Methodist Church. 41 Mary’s parents were interested in the young
preacher from UP and wanted to have him as Mary’s future husband. However,
her grandfather was opposed, saying, ‘we will not give our daughter to a
wanderer,’ as Lal was an independent missionary with no financial support.
Therefore, they insisted that he get some secular job employment alongside his
preaching ministry. Later, he was employed by the Indian Railway as a Divisional
Officer before marrying Mary in 1945. He received Rs.30.00 as his salary, and he
used to travel and preach, supporting himself financially. After the marriage, they
began cottage meetings, and two years later established a local church at Christian
Ganj, Ajmer, in the house of Mr. Alexander. It was called ‘Bethesda Church,’ and
it was the first Pentecostal church in Rajasthan. Mary received Holy Spirit
baptism in 1948, and she saw a vision of Jesus taking her to the river. She
immediately underwent water baptism because she believed the Lord was
speaking to her about this. Although they did evangelistic work among non-
Christians, their major work was among the existing Christians.
41 Mary Athena Lal, interview by author, Ajmer, Rajasthan, 19 May 2006.
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